How much money you need to earn to afford a home in 49 U.S. cities

MoneyWatch How much money you need to earn to afford a home in 49 U.S. cities .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Mary Cunningham Mary Cunningham Reporter, MoneyWatch Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. Read Full Bio Mary Cunningham May 27, 2026 / 3:00 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Let's start with the good news: U.S. workers' pay is up roughly 4% this year, with median household income in April reaching roughly $88,000, according to government data. Now for the bad: That's still nearly $30,000 short of what online real estate firm Redfin estimates Americans need to earn to afford a home.Households need annual income of $116,780 to afford the average home, the firm said in a recent report, noting that this figure is down from a peak of $122,000 in mid-2025. Around the U.S., the typical property now costs nearly $418,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. A household earning the average U.S. income would need to spend 40% of its income on the median-priced home, Redfin found. Experts generally advise keeping monthly mortgage payments to no more than 30% of annual income after putting 15% down."Homebuying in the U.S. continues to be unaffordable," Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said in a client note, adding that "we expect that to remain the case over the next decade."Redfin's data shows the median salary of nearly $88,000 isn't enough to afford a house in 41 of the 49 most populous U.S. cities. In San Francisco, the priciest city for homeownership, a person would need to earn more than five times the median salary — nearly $444,000 — to afford a home. That comes as housing inventory in the California city fails to keep up with demand caused by the AI boom, which is bringing more tec...